The masseur could have been referring to fascia which is like the lining that gives muscle, both the individual fibres and the bundles of fibres themselves, integrity and structure.If you looked at a cadaver or , if you eat meat, and break open a chicken wing or leg you will see a kind of tissue like you see over onion layers.Sometimes this mesha forms shapes within the body that get stuck. Sometimes also called trigger point, knots located along the belly of the muscle. This is just a theory and it is not known for sure what is going on within the muscle fibres within the belly of the muscle , and indeed disputed even if they exist. But it’s speculated,for instance, that the nerve firing could be blocked within the belly of those individual fibres… Who knows…? Theories abound! Could make some sense though.
There was a doctor,Janet Travell, and her father who invented something they called trigger point therapy which has influenced some massage approaches; - actually, a bit off-topic, but President JFKennedy made her in-house physician to the Whitehouse,no less, he was that impressed by her proclaiming her as a genius. The story goes that he walked in a cripple( i mean in wheelchair) into their office and then after one session then left once again able to walk again.JFk alleges a dramatic improvement to hos own health through his personal physician, claiming he probably would’nt have become president for her.I think his health was in a bad way ,before running, like he was a virtual crippple and weak and sick. I think her therapy could now be seen as kind of crude and primitive & questionable from a yoga perspective as it involved injections into the muscle.
It seems quite commmon that bodyworkers and masseurs use the paradigm of muscles ,fascia and connective tissue with less interest in addressing the nerves that innervate these structures (hence talk about knots).Although some somatic healing arts address this. There was another woman called Ida P Rolf that came up with a body-work therapy called Structural Integration that worked the body’s fascia through manipulation over about ten sessions. Over ten months your muscles & fascia was literally re-organised.What was missing from the Rolfing paradigm was , imo, muscle tonus. This was a missing link - it was folk like Feldenkrias and Thomas Hanna that tried to adress muscukeletal issues more directly pointing to the the nervous system as that which needed changing. Yoga goes much deeper to purportedly to core of our essential being . And compared with the wealth of tools available in tantra, yoga, meditation even these modalities might appear limited, and on some levels they are. The only thing is it can take someone along time to learn. But the approach i recommend is adapting the practice to fit yourself.As different practices and styles suit different personalities,temperaments,needs and conditions.
You get something called deep tissue massage that is meant to penetrate fascia and tight muscles, and oriental and swedish etc.If you’ve got really high muscle tonus in certain areas that is resulting in scoliosis or curvature of the spine a a skilled massage can be very therapeutic for immediate effects even if they don’t address the root of the problem and are short term.The only caveat here is that the masseuse has imo, specifically target those areas which are tight rather than loose and invariably over-developed. You’d either have to communicate this to your masseur or expect him to be skilled at reading bodies.A better option of course if you had the lolly and the inclination and you had therapeutic issues would be to get the help of a well skilled yoga therapist. But allthey will do is guide you into helping and empowering yourself.
